


Fact or Fiction, When Fiction Overwrites Fact

by Sehin



Series: November 2020 One-Shots [21]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, I may or may not be pissed off about Star Trek Discovery at the moment, Klingons, M/M, Mentions events of 2256 and 2257, Multi, Not Beta Read, OCs are Main Characters, Or More Like Explaining the Messed Up Star Trek Timeline, Other, Post-Star Trek Nemesis, Retelling, Set in 2381, Star Trek Canon, Totally Headcanon, USS Discovery (Star Trek), lots of easter eggs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:41:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27654956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sehin/pseuds/Sehin
Summary: "Chief Science Officer's personal log, Stardate 58224.5, I have recently discovered an interesting historical file that makes absolutely no sense and it relates to my research on astromycology. To be frank, it's almost like the a war that killed billions happened but to date I've never heard of it. I'm off to consult with our ship's historian on the matter. I won't be surprised at all if he's heard of it..."*The Chief Science Officer of the U.S.S. Firebrand is looking into creating an alternative means of space travel and discovers discrepancies in the 23rd Century that make no sense. Along comes the Security Chief who knows every secret in Starfleet and the biggest cover-up in history of the Federation isn't what it seems.
Relationships: Hugh Culber/Paul Stamets
Series: November 2020 One-Shots [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994803
Kudos: 2





	Fact or Fiction, When Fiction Overwrites Fact

"Chief Science Officer's personal log, Stardate 58224.5, I have recently discovered an interesting historical file that makes absolutely no sense and it relates to my research on astromycology. To be frank, it's almost like the a war that killed billions happened but to date I've never heard of it. I'm off to consult with our ship's historian on the matter. I won't be surprised at all if he's heard of it..."

*

Lieutenant Commander Joseph McGrath, chief science officer of the U.S.S. _Firebrand_ , proved himself incorrect almost as soon as he noted the face of Lieutenant Sabic, who was looking at the PADD and looking up, his round eyes wide.

"This is ridiculous," The Saurian historian noted. "My grandfather was a member of Starfleet during the 2250s and to date, he has never told me a single thing about this apparent war with the Klingons."

"So it's fake?" McGrath asked. "Then why is it research to do with astromycology?"

Sabic growled. "How should I know. I'm a historian, not a scientist." The Saurian handed the PADD back. "I can check with several individuals that would've been alive at the time, including Vulcan individuals over the age of a hundred and thirty. I'll get back to you."

McGrath nodded and left. In the corridor, he stumbled across Lieutenant Sean Mitchell, the ship's chief of security and chief tactical officer. A Half-human and half-Betazoid courtesy of an incident whilst serving on the _Enterprise_ as a junior tactical officer until last year, the younger man noted the perplexed look on the scientist's face.

"Something the matter, Lieutenant Commander?" Mitchell asked.

McGrath sighed. "I was doing some research into the mycelial network and working on a means of using it for faster space travel when this came up," he then handed the PADD to the other officer. "It doesn't make sense though."

The security chief chuckled. "That's cause it didn't happen, Lieutenant Commander," he replied. "Or at least not how they say it did."

"Really?" the scientist's eyebrows rose. "But we'd have heard of this war, wouldn't we?"

Mitchell chuckled. "My great-grandfather lived during this period. He mentioned that a fanatical sect of the Klingons caused issues and fought a conflict with Starfleet during this period but in truth, nothing happened. Though it did give rise to the fate of the U.S.S. _Discovery._ "

" _Discovery_?"

The security chief smiled. "Meet me in my quarters," he replied. "I have the files, even the classified ones."

*

How Mitchell got his hands on highly classified Starfleet files puzzled McGrath as he entered the security chief's quarters an hour later. The young man's quarters were an oddity of clean and messy, with PADDs stacked in piles of four or five each on his desk, a book case and even on the window sill. His bed was unmade and had the until recently dress uniform on top of it, the pristine white and gold lines indicating the security and operations division not really as clean and clear damage to it. The bookcases themselves were an odd disorder of old books of either fiction or nonfiction. There was also a shelf filled with multiple photographs of people in the young lieutenant's life and indeed one of the familiar tourist attractions on the security chief's home planet of Deneva. One single photograph was on the desk between a pile, which had the image of Mitchell's seven-year-old son Aidan, who was currently off-ship with a civilian excursion to the nearby Ivor system.

"Here it is," Mitchell said as he stood up from the bookcase behind the desk with a gray PADD in his hands. "I was only looking at this last month and planned to pass it on to Hayley, Callum and Khy'lan when I got the chance."

McGrath's eyebrows rose. "Why would two ship's helm officers and the chief operations officer want to look at this?"

The younger man chuckled. "Khy'lan and Callum are conspiracy theorists, not wakey but surprisingly realistic," he paused for a moment. "Their theories about the fate of the _Enterprise_ -B are actually coming true if what DS10 reported accurately last week," Mitchell then smiled. "And Hayley was reading the autobiography of Keyla Detmer and noted this period's near-blankness to her time as _Discovery_ 's helm officer."

Mitchell then moved to the couch, placing the PADD down and moving to the replicator. "Want a drink?"

"Coffee, please," McGrath replied, taking a seat. "Black, no sugar."

"Computer, one black coffee, no sugar and a tall orange juice, Denevan mix."

Returning to the couch with the items, he gave the coffee to the scientist before pressing on the PADD and sitting down himself.

"Okay," Mitchell started. "On Stardate 1207.3, May 11th 2256, the _Walker_ -class survey ship U.S.S. _Shenzhou_ NCC-1227 was dispatched to the binary star system X3-411 to investigate damage down to an automated relay. They encountered an unknown object in the debris field and first officer Commander Michael Burnham undertook a space flight to investigate. She was soon attacked by a Klingon warrior belonging to a radical sect known as the Followers of Kahless."

An image showed a Klingon warrior, but unlike most members of the race McGrath had seen, this one appeared rather feral and monstrous. "Burnham was rescued by the _Shenzhou_ , who determined it was a device known as the Beacon of Kahless and it was protected by the sect's flagship the _Sarcophagus_."

An image showed a monstrous warship that appeared almost organic in design. "Captain Philippa Georgiou attempted to open negotiations, only for the Klingons to instead active the beacon that sent a subspace beam of light across the quadrant to Klingon space, summoning twenty-four ships that conveniently belonged to the heads of the leading houses at the time."

McGrath noted the different ships that looked nothing like any standard Klingon ships. "Did the twenty-four Great Houses have different fleets or something compared to the Imperial Klingon Fleet?"

Mitchell nodded. "At the time, the Klingons were in chaos. Their Chancellor was weak and they hadn't recovered from the attacks by unknown enemies in the mid-2240s. It's why Donatu V didn't have an outcome and why Archanis IV and the rest of that sector remained in Federation hands. The Great Houses had a sizable fleet of about two thousand ships all together but the Imperial Fleet itself was still loyal to the Chancellor and his advisors. Each leader had squabbles amongst themselves and were wasting their time fighting one another. From what I learned from Lieutenant Dax before I left the _Enterprise_ , several Klingon commanders abandoned their houses deliberately just to stay out of it and formed their own houses, including Kor, Koloth and Kang."

"And why this sect looked different?"

Mitchell shrugged. "Some failed attempt by the sect's own scientists to undo those afflicted with a genetic virus that left them without their cranial foreheads. Sent them feral and fanatical instead. Klingon scholars think they misunderstood the words of Kahless and just went insane."

The image then changed to show a standard 23rd Century style vessel, though with the nacelles connected to the underside of the hull and the bridge section underneath the saucer and not on top. " _Shenzhou_ was able to pull ten other ships to aid them in at least giving a Starfleet defence, only for it and six of those ships to be destroyed. Klingons lost half their ships and the _Sarcophogus_ was damaged and then destroyed by the head of House Kol. The surviving Klingon ships subsequently fell back to Klingon territory and for the next eighteen months launched an assault on Federation worlds including Corvan II, Beta Ophiuchi IV, Kelfour VI, Nivalla, Septra and Iridin. They also tried to lay claim to Deneva, only for the task force to be wiped out by seven _Constitution_ -class starships stationed in the system including the U.S.S. _Farragut_ NCC-1647 and U.S.S. _Lexington_ NCC-1709. Eventually it died down when L'Rell became Chancellor and broke the power of the Great Houses, restoring the Empire to peace for at least eight years."

"What happened to the _Shenzhou_ crew?" McGrath asked.

"Georgiou was killed on the bridge, along with the operations officer Danby Connor and communications officer Troy Januzzi, first officer Burnham and second officer Saru ordered the ship evacuated and the survivors were brought aboard the U.S.S. _Kerala_. After the court martial, Burnham resigned from Starfleet and returned to Vulcan where she was raised, though rumours were she tried to commit mutiny because of her own feelings to the Klingons extending from childhood and was being sent to prison. Completely bogus as the ship's record clearly noted that Burnham didn't even return to the bridge until the battle began and was still in sickbay when undergoing treatment, communicating only via ship's intercom. Saru was promoted to first officer of the _Crossfield_ -class science vessel U.S.S. _Discovery_ NCC-1031 along with helm officer Detmer under Captain Gabriel Lorca."

The image changed to show the senior staff of the U.S.S. _Discovery_. The tallest was a Kelpien from Kaminar, one of the most respected worlds of the Federation where two races lived in peace, whilst the others were human. McGrath paused for a moment. "Wait, Commodore Saru? That Saru?"

Mitchell nodded. "Responsible for bringing peace between the Kelpiens and the Ba'ul, clearing up centuries of misunderstandings and allowing their world to join the Federation only twenty years later."

He then touched the PADD screen and names showed up next to the officers. _Joann Owosekun, Keyla Detmer, Gen Rhys, Sylvia Tilly, Airiam, Ash Tyler, Ronald Altman Bryce, Sara Nilsson, Paul Stamets, Hugh Culber, Gabriel Lorca..._

"Michael Burnham?"

"She was requested back to Starfleet at Lorca's request six months after the Battle at the Binaries," Mitchell replied. "Burnham was a xenoanthropologist and quantum physicist. She helped Lieutenant Paul Stamets create the spore hub jump drive, or at least get it working."

Schematics of said drive showed up along with the details of how it worked. McGrath studied it intently and smiled. "Stamets was a genius, wasn't he?"

"And an arse," the security chief replied. "Only person who originally got along with him was his husband, Doctor Culber. Eventually, Burnham and Sylvia Tilly got him to warm up and be more expressive." Mitchell then flicked to an image of the scientific team around Stamets, noting devices in his arms. "Of course, in order to operate the spore drive they needed a living organic computer to connect the link to the mycelial network. They first used an alien known as a tardigrade then eventually Stamets used an illegal eugenic experiment to turn himself into that computer."

McGrath was surprised by this information and puzzled. "So why was it classified?"

"Three reasons: Lorca, Section 31 and Cover-up of something more heinous." Mitchell took a sip of his drink. "The _Discovery_ was orbiting Pahvo when the Klingons hit. Stamets made a successful jump, only for Lorca to sabotage it and send them into an alternate universe, his home one really. Turns out Gabriel Lorca had been replaced with his alternative self during a transporter accident. Rumours are he was from the mirror universe with the Terran Empire, but turns out they were from another one similar but even darker and more advanced. From what I learned, the Tellarites were always balding and had tusks while Andorians had facial crests like Xindi Reptilians and Rigellian Jel'na. The Klingons looked like the wild ones from the Followers of Kahless sect. _Discovery_ was trapped there for nine months, struggling to escape their former captain and his fanatics as they overthrew the Emperor, who fled on the _Discovery_ to safety. Eventually, thanks to the Ash Tyler and Hugh Culber of that universe, they made it home. After debriefing, Section 31 took over running of _Discovery_ and placed it under their control for the next six months."

"Then what happened?"

"Section 31 had an internal mutiny, got Lieutenant Commander Airiam's cybernetics infected and led her to nearly kill Commander Burnham and Ash Tyler's security chief replacement Nhan, the admirals and agents in the organisation then went insane and killed each other. Then Starfleet discovered their secret fleet and wiped it out. The _Discovery_ 's spore drive suffered a cascade failure courtesy of their last active agent and exploded near Xahea, causing a time rift that drew all of its parts in. The _Enterprise_ and _Farragut_ arrived in time to evacuate the crew before the explosion. First time Spock and Kirk ever met actually prior to serving together."  
McGrath sighed. "So the _Discovery_ 's spore drive failed because of Section 31?"

"Yep, though Starfleet Command covered it up because of how secretive that organisation was supposed to be. I suppose its another thing we can thank President Zife for in helping getting rid of them completely before getting killed by him couple of years back." Mitchell breathed out. "They then covered up the incident with this ridiculous Red Angel incident and made it seem like _Discovery_ didn't exist. Turns out the only reason the _Shenzhou_ was out on the rim when the Followers of Kahless attacked them was also Section 31's doing to recruit Burnham."

"They covered an entire three years up in a fake war and then banned mycelial network research," McGrath growled. "What were Starfleet thinking at the time?"

"The admiralty were morons," Mitchell replied. "Even worse than what we got before the Dominion War too. When my great-great-grandmother got promoted to admiral after the incident, she happily forced the idiots into retirement and promoted half the veteran captains to fill in the vacancies. It's why you don't hear of Patar, Brett Anderson, Terral, John Comsol, Greta Hughes-Boone and Guich nar Breth but you hear about Katrina Cornwall, Heihachiro Nogura, Richard Robau, Thy'vu Shran, Yasmina Paris, James Bennett and Sebastian Westerveilt. They were quietly shuffled away and good riddens."

"So why the fake history?" McGrath asked. "Surely the truth was deserving?"

"That lie was created by the President at the time to cover up their links to the Brassur Plague that swept across Federation and Klingon worlds that killed over 10,000 people in the course of two years. Their homeworld of Drunak VII subsequently was stripped over its membership after they resigned and were thrown out of the Federation, leading to their quarantine and exclusion that lasts to this day."

The scientist paused. He'd never really understood the reason why the Drunaki were expelled from the Federation, being the only member state to end up in this position in the history of the galaxy. "It must have been truly awful for Vulcan, Andoria, Tellar Prime, Alpha Centauri and even New Xindus to retain this expulsion."

"Yeah," Mitchell sighed. "They released a history bio on the lie in the 2310s that wasn't very popular as they went completely over the top. Ships were suddenly twice their size and didn't match the aesthetic of the period, even mixing up the registry of starships. Heck, they even dramatised the war and Michael Burnham's story." Images showed the awful hot-rod designs of the ships. Sure they looked nice but they didn't look like anything Starfleet had or even knew about now. _Wait is that a saucer with engines?_

"So what happened to the _Discovery_ crew really?" McGrath asked as the images from the 'history fic' played out.

"Saru eventually rose through the ranks and became a commodore in the Seventh Fleet, eventually retiring to lead the Kaminar Council for thirty years before passing. He was the first Kelpien to join Starfleet and one of the best captains next to James T. Kirk and Robert Wesley during the period," an image of the Kelpien officer showed up. "Of course, they say he ended up going into the future and got made a captain there in a period after they call the Burn happened. Bloody ridiculous since a galaxy-wide dilithium inert event is about as likely as a galaxy-sized supernova not travelling through subspace."

McGrath chuckled. "The odds of that happening are astronomical. Though don't count out the odd readings we've been getting from Hobus in the Romulan Empire."

"Never would," Mitchell replied. "Someone's playing with ancient tech they shouldn't be playing with there," the image changed to Burnham and Tilly. "Burnham left Starfleet again and retired to Vulcan. She died in 2281 whilst on Tavela Minor when that earthquake struck the capital and killed ten thousand people. Tilly went on to rise to the rank of captain and commanded the U.S.S. _Korolev_ until it disappeared in 2294. To date, her final fate remains unknown. Though its mentioned she married an Andorian engineer and they adopted a cat together."

The image went back to the bridge crew. "Detmer became an instructor at Starfleet Academy, teaching helm piloting from all she'd learned. She never fully recovered from the trauma of her time on _Discovery_ but she remained close with everyone until her cybernetic implants failed in 2290 and Keyla passed away in her home town," Mitchell sighed. "My great-great-uncle mentioned having met her when he was ten just before she passed away and thought she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever met. That's why he named his daughter Keyla."

McGrath smiled. "She was really awesome."

Mitchell nodded. "Hayley and I really like her and read her biography whilst at Starfleet Academy together. It's also the only book we share and swap every few months or so." He then turned to look at the next image. "Stamets continued his research but could never perfect the spore drive again. And Starfleet had decommissioned the _Crossfield_ -class in 2259 due to bad performances and the ridiculous design anyway. Only ten were ever built and much like the period between 2305 and 2352, the ships either exploded in warp or kept colliding with other ships. He and Culber eventually retired to Cestus III in 2275 and died not long afterwards from illness. Their last words were: "Into the Forest We Go". Quite poetic really."

"Rhys, Nilsson and Owosekun all went on to careers in Starfleet but not as prominent as Tilly, which suited them fine. Nilsson was at Tomed when those renegade Romulans attacked and wiped out the colony in 2311. She's assumed dead from it. Ash Tyler left Starfleet to become a liaison to the Klingon Empire as he'd had an unfortunate experience with a device similar to what I had that gave him the life of a Klingon named Voq when he was in the other universe. His role was the first stage towards the eventual peace between us and the Empire."

The PADD's images faded and McGrath was troubled. "So a piece of badly written fiction that covered up foolish mistakes changed history itself?"

Mitchell shrugged. "It might have happened in another universe but Christopher Pike, Una of Illyria, Spock and Amanda Grayson never spoke of it in their private dictates either. And even neutral worlds and Klingon historians admit the events never happened the way they say in that historical fic. They only unsealed the reports I got only last year and since my grandfather was still on the order forms, that's how I got this stuff."

"How much others have you got?"

The security chief chuckled. "Enough to make the captain blush. Would you believe they have a document that saws Zefram Cochrane was an alien and the inhabitants of Alpha Centauri were actually transplanted Greeks from three thousand years ago?"

"Now that's a conspiracy," McGrath chuckled. "But Stamets' research and the spore drive, what I've worked for has been achieved," he sighed. "So much for that."

"You could always perfect it," Mitchell replied. "I think Stamets' notes for an alternative organic computer were never completed and that was the most troubling part about it. Using a living creature is wrong in every moral sense which is why Stamets used it on himself."

"So I should try that out?"

"Absolutely," Mitchell then handed him the PADD. "Authorisation code is Harber-Three-Zero-Alpha-Charlie, my great-great-grandmother's old code, still valid but works. You shouldn't get into any trouble with it."

"Thanks, Sean," McGrath replied, taking the device. "Do you think the captain could push for a spore drive?"

"He agreed for you to converted Cargo Bay 1 into a cultivation bay so you didn't take up too much room in hydroponics," the security chief said. "I think a spore drive would be fun, assuming we don't end up being turned inside out."

"Was that history fic really that bad?"

"Less mild than what did happen to the _Glenn_ ," Mitchell replied. "Though it is fun to watch if you can get through the third season and undoing the fictional Burnham's character development completely. Emperor Georgiou is certainly fun and similar enough to the real Emperor who didn't come back with them."

McGrath chuckled. "I might do that, Lieutenant. Thank you."

The younger man smiled. "Any time, Lieutenant Commander, any time."

*

"Chief science officer's personal log, Stardate 58772.1, I feel I am close to a break through on the spore drive's organic computer connection, thanks in part to the information acquired from the Undine when their representatives met with us briefly a month ago. Captain Albion and Commander Milano are understandably concerned for the welfare of the crew when I gave them the warnings about its eventual usage but they gave me the go-ahead on the matter. And for what it's worth, Lieutenant Mitchell is right, the so-called 'Discovery series' is poorly-written at times but it does have good aspects to it and the people it's based on are almost the exact same as in real life. My only hope is that the thirty-first and thirty-second centuries don't really end up the way they do during the third season of the show, but then again, it's better than rumours I heard about someone wanting to make a fiction of Admiral Jean-Luc Picard's life set only eighteen years into the future. When we next rendezvous with the U.S.S. _Titan_ , I'll see if I can talk to Counsellor Troi on the matter. I don't know who she'll feel when they plan to kill off her infant son when he hasn't even gotten past crawling and drooling stage yet..."

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, just to be clear, this is not me flaming Star Trek Discovery, we'll not completely. But considering how fed up I am with Michael Burnham's character arc throughout the series, I am kinda done with the series. I'll watch it but it's place in canon, like Star Trek Picard, is really not enjoyable. So I'm mostly burning Michael as a whole then I am the series itself. But you have to agree, the ship designs don't make sense and certain things aren't enjoyable.
> 
> Why I chose to set this on a fan-made ship with OCs as opposed to somewhere like the Enterprise-E, DS9 or even Voyager is because it felt comfortable to do so. And I have been toying with the U.S.S. Firebrand for a while in my head for a fanfic series I want to create. Whether or not, I'll publish it or even get round to writing it is another question. But I'll let you know one day.
> 
> It's kinda sad how much I enjoyed Discovery at the beginning and now I can't help but be disappointed by what I saw last week. And I don't blame the actors and actresses for this - Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Emily Coutts, Mary Wiseman, Jason Isaacs, Michelle Yeoh, Sara Mitich and the others, I don't blame them at all for the card they've got to deal with it. They are brilliant people with a wide range and they would do well in a proper Star Trek setting. But this series clearly isn't anymore. Just like with Picard, I feel the new Trek will go the way certain other series have in the future.
> 
> As to Easter eggs, aside from Discovery's, I do reference the novels quite a bit, particularly in relation to several ships and incidents. Others are just for fun and my own amusement. Lieutenant Dax is Ezri Dax, who serves as Troi's replacement on the Enterprise-E as she wanted a break from Deep Space 9, though she and Julian Bashir are still together. Oh and Yasmina Paris is a reference to Commodore Paris from Star Trek Beyond, because I liked her and believe she exists in the main timeline.
> 
> I'll leave it at that. Review and kudos. Tell me what you feel but don't be too inflaming. I want to respect the actors and actresses but the writers are fair game because they have turned their back on Gene Roddenberry's vision.


End file.
